Legend: Book 4: The Butterfly Effect
by Herr Wozzeck
Summary: The quest for a correct timeline is never an easy one, and Ike and his friends will learn so the hard way. Book 4 of Legend.
1. Chapter 1: Landing

All right! We're on to Book 4, and what is set to be my favorite part of the entire epic, the time travel book!

So, yeah, we're gonna get our introductions to everything here. So remember the relationships introduced in the spinoff book, and with that said, let's dig into Legend Book 4!

* * *

Chapter 1: Landing

Ike came to quite some time after he had jumped into the portal. As soon as he made this realization, his eyes fluttered open instantly.

The first thing he noticed was that he was staring up into one of the cloudiest skies he had ever seen outside of hell. The second thing he noticed was that he was actually unhurt.

The mercenary then sat up abruptly, and sighed in relief when he found Fiordiligi and Maria both lying down on the grass below them. The mercenary's blue eyes scanned the area before Maria sat up just as abruptly as he did.

"We're back, aren't we?" asked Maria as she sat up.

"Yep," replied Ike, looking up at the sky. "I wonder why it's so cloudy, though."

"Clouds all over the place?" Ike and Maria were both startled as they noticed Fiordiligi sitting up almost as abruptly as Ike had earlier. "They're not too dark, are they?"

"Not at all," replied Maria as she and Ike both stood up.

The cat laguz then helped Fiordiligi up as she grabbed onto Maria's shoulders instinctively. The lady of Jericho then seemed to stare out into space as Maria nodded to Ike.

"Let's get going and see what's going on," said the mercenary with a nod. "Then we'll find a good place to break this crystal and try to fix everything."

"All right," said the two women with him.

"But where do we start?" asked Maria with a shrug.

The mercenary looked around blankly, trying to figure out where to begin looking. Finally, he simply shrugged and looked at Maria.

"We'll go wherever our whims take us, I guess," said the mercenary simply.

With his said, Ike took a hold of Maria's hand, and then he led the two women along slowly, Maria and Fiordiligi both following behind him as Maria gazed at the immense amount of grass that was around them.

* * *

Eventually, Ike noticed some some smoke rising to his left. Maria noticed it two, and the small group stopped alltogether to look at the transluscent column of grey. Ike studied it, wondering what it could have been as Maria and Fiordiligi both stood by him. It was nearly dusk by the time Ike had noticed this, and the clouds had cleared by then to reveal the first blue sky Ike and Maria had seen in a long, long time.

"What is it?" asked Fiordiligi, just a little startled at the sudden stop.

"Smoke," said Maria simply. "And it looks like campfire smoke, too."

"Really?" asked the lady of Jericho, smiling. "You think we'll be able to find somebody to talk to?"

"Of course," said Ike simply. "Let's go."

The mercenary walked towards the smoke slowly, his two companions following close behind him. The group reached the place where the smoke was, and when they looked they found a rather humble scene.

Two tents were pitched by a stream, the smoke deriving from a fire that was undoubtedly used for cooking. A blonde man was kneeling over the fire, poking some fish with a stick. Maria noticed a hat laying off to the side, signifying the man's status as a travelling priest, although his robes were also a bit of a giveaway as well. The man was not all intent on cooking, however, and he noticed the three intruders peeking in on his work. Noticing this, he looked again at the fish he was cooking before turning to one of the tents.

"Cecilia!" he exclaimed.

Out of one of the tents came a rather young woman who made Ike wince the slightest bit. He regarded her purple hair in a strange kind of regard; he noticed how she and Maria could have been identical twins if not for the fact that this new woman was both human and wore a considerably different (tribal, Ike would think) outfit. She noticed the little group outside.

"H-hey!" she cried, jumping back into the tent before springing back out again with a katana in hand. "Stay away!"

"Well, that's no way to address a lady!" shouted Fiordiligi angrily.

"Hold on a second!" cried Maria as the woman moved over to them. "We're not trying to steal stuff from you!"

"I dunno, those cat ears and that tail look awfully suspicious to me!" replied the stranger as she looked at them with hard amethyst eyes.

"Oh, great, another continent without laguz..." sighed Ike under his breath.

However, the stranger heard this and stopped, suddenly tilting her head to the side.

"Laguz?" asked the woman. "What?"

"Uh... nothing..." replied Ike sheepishly, scratching the back of his cobalt hair.

Finally, the priest stood up. "Ah, never mind," he said simply, his blonde hair falling about his face. "I can see you are not thieves."

"Yeah, we're actually lost," replied Maria. "I know it's probably a dumb question, but where exactly are we?"

"You're on the Sacaen-Bern border," said the purple-haired human rather quickly. "You're lost?"

Ike shrugged. "It's a really long story," replied the mercenary. "For now, we're just lost, and we're wondering what's going on."

"Well, it's only fair you start with your own tale first," stated the priest simply. "You have a long tale coming for you as well, I assume?"

"Considering we haven't been here before, yes..." said Fiordiligi.

"Right," said the priest simply. "I am Calvin, and this is my friend and assistant Cecilia."

The other human ran over to the group, holding her hand out in a friendly manner. "Nice to meet ya!" said the woman quite cheerfully.

"And I'm Ike, and the two with me are Maria and Fiordiligi," said Ike as he took Cecilia's hand and shook it.

Calvin simply nodded. "Right," he said simply. "Where do we begin?"

"Well, it begins something like this," said Ike.

He then proceeded to tell the two people of his journeys across the world.

* * *

When Ike was finished telling his story, Cecilia and Calvin were both looking at him rather strangely. By then, the three strangers had sat down on the ground, Fiordiligi sitting absolutely still, groping around her whenever she shifted the way she sat. Both Maria and Fiordiligi had contributed some small bits of the tale, but they allowed Ike to tell the brunt of it.

"There are other continents besides Elibe?" asked the priest. "And you went through the afterlife?"

"Hard to believe, I know," said Ike with a shrug.

Cecilia simply shook her head at this. "Somehow, I find all that really, really hard to believe..."

"I wouldn't be surprised," replied Fiordiligi. "It's not every day these kinds of things happen to you..."

"We'll see soon enough," said Calvin with a shrug. "And now I suppose you want the story of Elibe of the past few years."

"Yes," said Maria. "We'd appreciate that very much."

Calvin coughed slightly to clear his throat before continuing, soft eyes looking at them briefly.

"Very well," said the priest. "Twelve years ago, there was a rather large war that was going on between Bern and the rest of the continent of Elibe."

"Bern?" asked Maria. "Ruled by king Zephiel?"

Calvin regarded this comment with a look of surprise. "Why, yes," he said. "You ran into him in the underworld, I assume?"

"Most definitely," said Fiordiligi. "Anyways, what happened after that?"

"After that?" asked the priest. "Well, to be simple, there was a peace pact that was formed between Bern and the League of Lycia."

The entire group gave confused looks to the priest. "The League of Lycia?" asked Ike. "Is that another nation?"

"It was the central opposing nation of the war," replied Calvin calmly. "Anyways, their peace pact was formed a few years ago. I think, however, that something isn't quite right here..."

"What do you mean?" asked Fiordiligi, groping her way around her as she shifted her position.

"Lately, King Roy of Lycia has been acting irrationally," said the priest. "Lycia and Bern went back into war, and they've been warring for two years now."

"Oh, dear..." said Maria. "How come we're not seeing it here?"

Cecilia shrugged at this question. "I don't know," she said. "I guess it's all by the Bern-Lycia border..."

"Hm..." Ike simply stretched his arms. "And that's what's going on?"

"Yes," replied Calvin. "That is really everything."

"Hm..." Fiordiligi was deep in thought as she pondered the implications, Ike looking at her with a certain sense of apprehension.

"Well, thanks for telling us," said Maria with a nod.

"Certainly," said Calvin. "I guess you also need a direction to head to?"

Ike nodded fervently at this. "Yes!" said the mercenary quickly.

"Very well, then," said the priest. "We'll be heading to Bern soon, so you can come along with us."

"Thank you," replied Ike, getting surprised when Fiordiligi's head darted in his direction.

Maria noticed this, and simply put an arm on Fiordiligi's arm. She also noticed that they barely had enough room for extra people.

"Hey, wait, what about extra tents?" asked Maria.

"Oh, those?" asked Cecilia. "I wouldn't worry about that. We'll do what we can."

"Saint Elimine would never forgive us if we did not," said Calvin succinctly. "Cecilia, you know what to do!"

"Yes, Calvin," replied the priest's companion quickly as she darted into one of the tents.

Ike and Maria simply looked at each other and shrugged, Fiordiligi still a little confused as she stood up with Maria's assistance. They then watched Calvin and Cecilia work, Ike lending a hand whenever necessary. The next day they would be off to Bern, and all three people were anxious as to what that would mean once they arrived...


	2. Chapter 2: Back to the Past

All right, so here we are with the next installment of Legend, where things take a turn for the past and we're thrust back into time. So without further ado, the next chapter of this epic!

* * *

**_Ike, Maria, and Fiordiligi made it out of the underworld with their lives intact, despite all of the dangers thrown at them._**

**_Upon arriving back in the world of the living, they were met by Cecilia and Calvin, two people that were journeying across Elibe for religious reasons. Ike and his two friends tag along, hoping to find some answers to the questions at the back of all of their heads._**

**_Also, they looked for a good opportunity to head to the past without disturbing the two people that they had joined on travels._**

Chapter 2: Back to the Past

When the caravan arrived at a small border town in Bern, they were almost shocked to find the streets devoid of any sign of life. The buildings, too, had taken quite a bit of damage, as if they had been burned out. As the group looked on this scene, the priest of Elimine looked forward, his eyes scanning the place around them with its eerily deserted streets and its buildings that were now little more than burning piles of cinder on the side of the road.

"My Goddess..." said Ike, looking around him in wonder at the destruction. "Who could've done this?"

"I dunno," said Cecilia as she too looked around, amethyst eyes hiding a bit of anger. "I'll bet it was those goons from the two armies!"

"I wouldn't be surprised if it was, I can tell you that much," said Maria as she led Fiordiligi along. "Now what're we going to do?"

Fiordiligi simply aimed her head up, confused. "What is the matter?"

"Oh, nothing, we just walked into a destroyed village, nothing we can't figure out!" replied Cecilia sarcastically.

"I'm blind, damn you!" retorted the lady angrily. "At least have a little respect for those who can't see what is going on!"

This effectively shut Cecilia up, and so she did not reply to this bit of reason as they trudged further into the town.

"My God..." said Calvin, shaking his head. "How... How could anybody have let this happen?"

"Who knows?" asked Ike, shrugging as he said this. "Anyways, I don't think it's a good idea to dwell on it all that much. Let's just make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again."

The priest of Elimine nodded briefly, looking around with a doubtful look in his eye.

"So...?" asked Maria as she looked around. "Where are we going to set up camp?"

This question got nasty glares from everybody around her except Calvin. She was surprised to find Ike staring back at her in an appalled manner as well. She simply stepped back and held her hands up in the air defensively.

"Why are you asking that?" asked Ike. "Let's see if there's anybody else here who survived and then we'll set it up!"

Maria simply said nothing to this, and then Ike and the gang began to inspect the burned buildings to make sure there were any survivors.

* * *

When they had found no survivors in the town after a few hours of searching, Calvin, Cecilia, and Ike had set up camp within the city. Calvin had started a fire with which to cook dinner from what good timbers remained from the old inn while Cecilia had gone off to hunt. That left Fiordiligi, Maria, and Ike to sit around the fire as the priest prepared it.

"You know, you're the first people other than Cecilia that I've met on my travels," said the priest softly.

"Really?" asked Ike.

"Yes," said Calvin, having lit the fire at the moment of saying this. "Am I the first holy person to travel with you?"

Maria and Ike both looked at each other before shaking their heads. "Not exactly," replied Maria truthfully, holding her hand out flat in the air. "We had a friend who could... communicate... with the spirits..."

"Really?" asked Calvin as he sat down in front of the fire. "I met somebody who had a similar power during my travels."

At this, Ike's eyebrows perked up. "You did?" he asked. "What happened to him?"

"He got claimed by the war..." replied the priest, looking up to the sky as he spoke. "The poor man was on Bern's side, and he got killed by his own friend who was on Lycia's side..."

"I see..." said Fiordiligi a little glumly.

Calvin shook his head at this truth. "It was terrible, too," he continued. "He was such a nice man. Always kind, always honest, and quite knowledgeable about spirits. He was the only person ever to defeat Cecilia in an argument about spirits..."

Calvin said this last tidbit with a slight chuckle, Ike looking at him solemnly. There was a brief pause as Calvin looked back up to the sky and shook his head.

"But there was always something about him I could never figure out," replied the priest. "You see, he always looked so sad."

At this, Maria's expression perked up a little, but Calvin took no notice of this as he continued. "It's like... how do I describe it...? Like... he was atoning for a past sin of some nature. I was never able to figure it out in the time I knew him. The poor man..."

Maria shifted where she sat, the expression she had picked up earlier gone from her face. Ike shifted a little as well, his gaze fixed on Calvin.

"I see..." said Ike. "Do you meet a lot of people on your travels?"

"Usually," replied the priest. "But only a few have ever left lasting impressions on me. And the only person to have truly bonded with me was Cecilia..."

Maria raised an eyebrow at this. "Really?" she asked.

"Ah, yes!" said the priest, smiling a little. "I remember when I first met Cecilia. She was laying passed out in the plains of Sacae, so then I nursed her back to health. She says she can't remember what was going on that got her there, although I still doubt that to this day."

"Really?" asked Fiordiligi. "If I may ask, why?"

"Well, Cecilia was always something very exotic," began the priest. "She was always a little wild and always doing very, very crazy things when I first met her. Also, because she hasn't aged much in the ten years I've known her."

This was enough to cause Ike and Maria to send a baffled look at the priest, Fiordiligi trying her best to do the same but aiming in a wrong direction.

"What?" asked the priest, noticing this.

"Well..." said Ike. "We also knew someone who ages slowly..."

"Ah," said Calvin with a shrug. "Perhaps it is something you might know about?"

Maria nodded. "I'm not sure we should tell, though," she said. "I mean, if we explained it then we'd be here forever. So anyways, what else is odd about her?"

"Well, she keeps this strange jewel attached to her hand," replied Calvin in a half-whisper. "She says it's a memento of her mother, but I think it might be something else..."

"Well, if you have so many suspicions about her, then why not leave her where she is?" asked Fiordiligi.

"H-how dare you!" stuttered Calvin angrily. "Cecilia may be a mysterious character, but she has a kind heart! I've never met a soul with such an intrinsic sense of kindness!"

This short rant left Fiordiligi just short of speechless. The woman said nothing at all for a few seconds, Calvin letting his anger vent out as well.

"Apologies for the outburst," said the priest after a short while. "I am just very defensive of Cecilia. She has been my best friend for years, you know."

"I know the feeling," said Ike with a shrug. "I wonder... Who else left impressions on you on your travels?"

"Oh!" said Calvin excitedly, raising a finger in the air.

The priest then proceeded to tell stories of the people that had left impressions on him during his travels across Elibe, Ike, Maria, and Fiordiligi all listening intently to the man tell his stories.

* * *

Later that night, Maria, Ike, and Fiordiligi had snuck away from Cecilia and Calvin's hospitality for a brief period of time into one of the burned down buildings. Maria was glad to be away from them for at least a short period of time, although she would miss their hospitality greatly.

"So there's some kind of war going on," said Ike. "So... Any ideas?"

"I don't think we have the whole picture," said Fiordiligi with a shrug. "So I guess we'll just have to ad lib everything and see how it all goes..."

"I hope it's not too rough," said Maria, her hand on her belly as she looked down at the bulge that had formed there. "I think the baby might come soon..."

"Hopefully, we'll be ready for it when it comes," said Ike.

"Yes," replied Fiordiligi. "Do you think Cecilia is one of the branded?"

"I don't know," said Maria with a shrug. "I can't see any kind of brand on her body anywhere."

"We shouldn't worry about it now..." said Ike. "Maria, you have the time crystal?"

"Of course," said the cat, holding the strange crystal up.

The crystal in question gave off an ethereal blue glow that casted itself upon the burned timbers of the old inn. The crystal itself was a strange sea blue, the shine from within giving the effect that it should have.

"Okay..." said Ike. "So, we bang it against an object and we're sent back in time to twelve and a half years..."

"I just hope this goes well..." said Maria, checking the place one last time to ensure that it was enclosed.

When she had made sure of this, the cat laguz struck the crystal against the side of one of the timbers that was jutting out of the ground. The trio suddenly found themelves travelling within a tunnel of impressive lights and colors, and that was all they could see for a few short seconds.

After those seconds had passed, they suddenly found themselves standing in an open field far from where the village they had set up camp in had gone. Ike looked at Maria and Fiordiligi and nodded, not noticing the shocked expressions on their faces.

"What the hell?"

At least, not until he heard the voice of Cecilia coming from behind him. Whipping his head around, he found the figures of both Calvin and Cecilia staring right at them, the both of them very confused and shocked.

"Oh, boy..." said Ike. He knew the instant he saw them there that explaining the situation was not going to be easy.


	3. Chapter 3: Past Phase 1

* * *

And welcome back to this.

Last time, Ike had dragged Cecilia and Calvin into the past unwittingly. So after that, they're going to be joining Ike and the gang on their journey and whatever. So here they are, and please welcome Calvin and Cecilia to the epic! =D

By the way, I should mention that they're not mine; Cecilia and Calvin both belong to RoyalFanatic (the same person who owns Lyanna from the last book!), so thank her for the characters if you so happen to like them. So now, the clock is ticking, and we've got a past to save, so let's go!

* * *

Chapter 3: Past Phase 1

"So those stories were true! I'll bet you went to pick us off in a time where nobody would know us!"

"Oh, shut up! We're just trying to fix past mistakes here!"

"Yeah, mistakes you don't know about! Stop it!"

Ike finally slammed Ragnell against the ground, a dull thud resulting that got everybody's attention.

"That's it!" shouted the mercenary angrily at the arguing that had ensued for quite some time between Cecilia, Maria, and Fiordiligi. "All of you will shut up, right now!"

The three women stopped, Calvin looking to Ike with a confused expression on his face. Ike looked at Cecilia.

"Now, for you, whether you like it or not, you're stuck with us," said Ike, the acid in his voice apparent. "Mostly because the timeline we were just in probably won't exist when we're back in the future. I want you to shut up and stop arguing with us; we've only got six hours to fix the past, and you bickering about it isn't going to help anybody's case!"

"It won't exist?" shouted the angry female. "What do you mean it won't exist? That is not acceptable by any means! I--!"

"It's only twelve and a half years!" replied Maria just as angrily. "It's not that big a loss, now, is it?"

"Why, you, you, 'mother of a mixed person'!" insulted Cecilia. "I may be angry, but I'm angrier that Calvin and I are going to be completely lost!"

Ike shook his head. "Which is why you'll stay as close to us as you can!" replied Ike dryly. "Now let's stop arguing; we've only got six hours to fix up a mess that could jeapordize the continent and we don't even know where to start!"

Cecilia shook her head angrily. "No thanks to you..." she said under her breath.

Calvin, unable to simply stand by any longer, held his arms out in front of him. "Ms. Cecilia, I don't think it's such a good idea to disagree with Ike at this time," he said simply. "I know you don't trust him now, but please, at least stay with them for me."

The purple-haired female looked to her companion first before finally nodding and facing Ike.

"All right, fine," she said. "But only because of Calvin. That's the only reason I'm going with you right now!"

"We'll worry about the reasoning later," said Maria as she looked around her. "Right now we've gotta find out what happens, where it happens, and how it changes the future..."

"And a friggin' explanation would be nice!" added Cecilia afterwards. "Even if you did tell us of your journeys, there are still a few holes that need to be filled here!"

"Trust me, we would give you an explanation if we had time," said Fiordiligi with a shake of her head, her blank gaze fixed on a tree as if she was talking to it. "But as it is, we need to move, and we need to move fast. Now let's go before we wind up with the same future we had before!"

Ike, Maria, and Fiordiligi then all took off in a random direction, Calvin following along somewhat hesitantly. Cecilia stood rooted to the spot before groaning at the utter lack of politeness the strangers she had only met recently were giving her in that particular moment. Finally, she gave out a frustrated growl and followed the priest before she could get left behind by Ike and his friends.

* * *

A while of searching later, the group suddenly noticed a mountain in the distance with a large army surrounding it. There was nothing special about the mountain surrounding it, but the instant Ike laid his eyes on it he knew something was going on there. Noticing this, Ike stopped, his group stopping behind him as he took in the sight.

"I think that's it," he said, pointing to the mountain. "I think that's where we need to go!"

"How are you so sure?" asked Cecilia as she walked next to Ike and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm not," replied Ike with a shrug.

"Well, there is an army..." said Calvin as he came up as well. "So if there is an army at the base of the mountain there must be something going on."

"I agree with Calvin," added Maria with a nod. "If we're gonna get anywhere, that area might be one of the first places we should look."

Fiordiligi shook her head at this talk. "Well, standing here talking about it isn't going to save the continent!" she replied fiercely. "Let's move!"

Ike, just a little shocked at this, began to move towards the army a little nervously, Maria leading Fiordiligi right behind him with Calvin and Cecilia both in the rear. Quite suddenly, a thought occurred to Cecilia, and she was quick to speak up about it.

"Hey, if we can't get through the army, what do we do?" she asked.

This caused the group to pause slightly in their movements, and they suddenly realized that Cecilia had a point.

* * *

Ike looked into the cave, the entrance beckoning him to enter. It had looked like a normal mountain, but up close the mercenary had noticed a façade at the entrance of a cave that was as grand as the Tower of Salvation, possibly even more grand than that. The columns that formed the façade were not very tall, but they were very ornate. Ike got the feeling he would see this place more, but he still could not tear his eyes away from the sight in front of him.

However, Maria barely gave him any time to wonder about this at all, as she suddenly grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the cave just before his invisibility spell wore off.

The interior of the cave was even more grand than the façade, if that was possible. He found himself in a rather simple room, except for the throne that was situated immediately in front of them. To the side, however, Ike noticed an opening leading to a stone pathway that seemed to hover on the air. Ike looked to Maria and nodded, and Fiordiligi, Cecilia and Calvin were already in the room, the two natives of Elibe looking around at everything in awe.

"My..." said Calvin softly. "I never thought I'd ever see anything like this..."

"Spare me the dialogue," replied Fiordiligi snarkily. "My blindness is bad enough as it is, thanks."

"So, Cecilia, that invisibility spell you randomly pulled worked," said Maria. "Mind telling us where you got it from?"

Cecilia suddenly glared at Maria at this question. "No," she said. "Especially not if you're going to ask me like that."

"Hey!" replied Maria, inflamed by this statement. "I don't trust that spell! What if it does something to my baby?"

"Maria, please, know that Cecilia means no harm to your unborn child," replied Calvin to this statement.

Ike had walked to the opening and gazed out onto what he saw, and he saw several towers housing rooms that were connected by a system of stone walkways, all of which were suspended on vast columns of stone that seemed to be rooted in the abyss. The mercenary looked at this and gestured everybdy forward.

"Guys, check this out!" he said, pointing outside.

Maria, Cecilia, and Calvin were all by his side, Fiordiligi holding on to Maria's arm as they all looked out in amazement at the structure before them.

"My god..." said Maria dumbfoundedly. "I never thought I'd ever see anything like this!"

"Yep," replied Cecilia bluntly. "My only problem is, we've got a long way to go."

"Then why don't I hear you people moving?" asked Fiordiligi. "We already wasted four and a half hours getting to this point, so why are you sitting there admiring the scenery?"

Fiordiligi's straighforward comment surprised the whole group, and then they all turned to her abruptly.

"On it!" shouted Ike.

With this, Ike began moving down the pathway that they saw, the rest of the group following behind. However, as they walked down the pathway, the group suddenly began to hear a series of clanging noises in the distance.

"Is there a battle going on?" asked Cecilia.

"Yes," said Ike as he listened more carefully to the sounds. "I think we know what affects the timeline. Come on!"

And with this, Ike bolted down the pathway, Cecilia and Calvin suddenly finding themselves struggling to keep up.

"Hey, wait!" shouted Maria, holding Fiordiligi as she tried to keep up with them despite her pregnancy. "Wait for me!"

* * *

After a short time of running towards the sounds of battle, Ike finally looked up at a flight of stairs into a large room, stopping when he suddenly noticed Fiordiligi limping towards him ahead of Maria. When Cecilia had to catch her to keep herself from going much farther, the lady Jericho panted.

"Ike, I can feel the presence of a spirit!" she said. "I think Nergal's behind all this!"

Ike shrugged, looking up the stairs. "I can imagine," he said. "Come on, let's go!"

The mercenary ascended the stairs and beheld an image of absolute chaos before him. Two towering dragons were holding each other off, while a whole slew of people were trying to combat one person who was holding them back with magic and a hand out towards one of the dragons. The people that were held at bay were utilizing weapons to try to break through the magical shield despite their best efforts. Ike instantly recognized one of the dragons as Kuranga in his dragon form, although the other dragon was a subject of confusion for the mercenary. He was unable to pick out faces in the crowd of people that was aiming to attack the man who was trying to control the dragon. As Calvin and Cecilia came up behind him, Fiordiligi crawled up the stairs and pointed in the direction of the crowd of people that were trying to break through the shield.

It was the look of the person holding everybody back that surprised Ike, however; he saw a man with a black turban holding both of them off. The turban seemed to cover one of the man's eyes, but the turqouise eye that the mercenary could see was shining in madness as the figure laughed maniacally. Ike saw the man taunting the people trying to kill him, while a red-headed young lord was swinging his sword against the barrier especially hard.

_You have no chance make your time._

"Huh?" asked Ike, turning around as he heard a voice say this. "Who said that?"

"The whole 'make your time' thing?" asked Cecilia. "I heard it too, but I don't think anybody actually said anything."

However, before anybody could make any further comments, Fiordiligi pointed her fnger at the direction of the group combatting the mysterious stranger. Ike then saw the sign of a spirit trap appearing past the barrier and under the deranged man. Seeing this, he had to teleport a short distance away before the trap snapped shut. Fiordiligi cursed under her breath, which greatly surprised Ike considering that she was blind.

At the same time, the dragon that Kuranga was holding off had stopped thrashing horrendously as the maniac appeared in another part of the room. However, a figure that Ike suddenly realized belonged to Willie had managed to fire a fireball in the direction of the man, and the man was hit by the flaming projectile, cursing the boy's existence before warping away.

And just before Ike could acknowledge his presence in the room, he felt himself black out almost instantly.


	4. Chapter 4: First Timline

Heyo, everybody. Apologies for the delays; I was up in Boston setting up my apartment for the next three years. So that was a little tough to live with for four days. And since I was busy eating out, setting up posters, and assembling furniture brand-made from Ikea, I wasn't able to get anything written. The fact that I was in the same small hotel room as my parents didn't help anything either.

But we're back! So we jumped back to the present, so let's see how the timeline has changed!

* * *

Chapter 4: First Timeline

When Ike came to, he was awake almost instantly.

The mercenary promptly stood up and looked around him to find a landscape covered almost completely in a thick fog, the land charred and burned almost completely. When he sniffed the air, he noticed the scent of smoke filling his nostrils, and the mercenary promptly coughed rather violently at this.

"Ike?" asked Maria, who was just looking up as Ike did this.

The mercenary looked down to his lover and helped her up.

"Oh, you're okay," he said. "What was that about?"

"I don't know, but I think we scared away our target," she replied. "And I'm pretty sure we've just wasted a use of the time crystal."

"Why do you say that?" asked Ike.

Maria then proceeded to undo the fist her hand had involuntarily clenched into to reveal the blue crystal. However, Ike instantly noticed the fact that there was a perfectly straight surface where the edge of the crystal had been. This revelation surprised Ike, but what was even more alarming was that the light on the crystal seemed to dim just the slightest bit. Looking at this, the mercenary took the crystal from his lover's hand and looked at it, awed.

"Oh, dear…" he said simply. "We've only got a few chances to make things right, don't we?"

"Well, there's one thing Hades didn't tell us…" replied the cat with a shrug.

Right then, Ike and Maria both noticed the unconscious forms of Cecilia, Calvin, and Fiordiligi all around them. Fiordiligi had just woken up, and she began groping around for anything that she could get her hands on. The next thing she grabbed was the breast of a then half-conscious Cecilia. This unintended action woke the Elibean native up almost instantly, and the next thing anybody knew the female was standing up crossly grabbing herself.

"Hey!" she shouted angrily. "Frisk something else!"

This resulted in Ike smacking Cecilia on the back of the head. The girl reeled forward slightly before noticing Ike's glare in her direction.

"She's blind, damn it!" he cried. "For Ashera's sake, cut her some slack!"

"She turned to that strange man like she could see him!" countered Cecilia almost immediately. "Explain that!"

Maria, Ike, and Fiordiligi were all very still at the mention of this. Ike and Maria looked to each other and then to Cecilia, their eyes registering shock.

"So you noticed it too?" asked Ike.

"Huh?" asked the purple-haired human, putting her hands on her hips. "You mean you find it odd too?"

"I… I was able to see his spirit sign…" replied Fiordiligi.

Cecilia raised an eyebrow, very unconvinced by this explanation. "Spirit sign?"

There was a cough, and then all three individuals who had sight noticed Calvin leaning on his elbows as he adjusted the hat on his head slowly.

"Perhaps it has something to do with… you know… their journey to the underworld?" asked the priest simply.

Maria glanced to the side nervously before chuckling uncomfortably.

"That's… pretty much it, yes…" replied the cat.

"Yeah," added Ike with a shrug. "It started like this…"

"And that's how it happened. And hence, why we're in a totally different timeline right now…"

Cecilia and Calvin both nodded at Ike's explanation, still slightly confused but willing to take Ike's explanation anyway. Cecilia shrugged, twirling some strands of her hair in between two of her fingers as she looked at Ike.

"I see…" she said. "You think we were pulled in because we were in the same small space?"

Ike shrugged in reply. "Could be," he said. "And now that we know what happens where, we should be able to move faster next time…"

"It's nice to not be under a six-hour time limit in each portion of the future, at least," added Fiordiligi. "Then we can figure out what happened where…"

"Speaking of which…" said Calvin, looking around him at the fog-ridden landscape. "What did happen in those twelve and a half years, anyway?"

The roar of a nearby dragon was suddenly heard, and all five darted their heads up to find a red dragon towering over them menacingly. At this, Maria jumped back in shock as Ike readied Ragnell.

"Crap, I knew we should've kept our weapons on us, Calvin!" cried Cecilia.

"No talk, damn it!" cried Maria as she tried to drag Fiordiligi away from the scene. "Just act!"

Cecilia was the first one to react to this, and she launched an ice spell at the towering creature. Ike jumped up after this, and Ragnell connected with the creature's body, slicing it rather cleanly as Ike landed on the ground. The dragon let out a roar of pain, but before it could move again it was hit by another ice spell sent in by Cecilia. The dragon let out a roar of pain before falling to the cold, hard ground. Calvin and Maria both were awed by how quickly the dragon was taken down, and how easy it seemed to be.

"How…?" asked Calvin.

"Probably because Ragnell was blessed by the goddess Ashera…" replied Ike with a nod. "That should take care of that."

Cecilia however, suddenly noticed something amiss within the fog, and suddenly she pulled on Ike's cape.

"You spoke too soon!" she exclaimed, pointing into the now thinning fog. "Look!"

And in the fog everybody except Fiordiligi was able to make out the forms of an entire army of dragons advancing towards a point very far from where the group was. The dragons towered over the charred landscape, giving off an almost vicious air as they marched on. At this, Maria grabbed Fiordiligi's hand just before Ike took a hold of the unoccupied hand.

"Let's get out of here!" shouted Ike a little too loudly for discretion.

Most of the dragon heads turned in their direction absurdly quickly, and before Ike knew what had happened he felt himself get tugged by Cecilia as they began to run. The mercenary would have objected verbally, but he then noticed a stream of fire that barely caught the edge of Fiordiligi's dress. The mercenary's eyes remained wide, even as he felt himself get pulled forward by Cecilia. They ran as quickly as they could, dodging the stray jets of fire that were being launched in their direction by the dragons that were chasing them.

Finally, however Cecilia let out a gasp of surprise, and all heads turned to find a black dragon directly in front of them. The dragon roared in front of the other dragons that were chasing them, and for a second Calvin and Cecilia had both ducked down.

It was when the priest had pulled down on Ike's pants that they noticed the pleasantly surprised expression on Ike and Maria's faces as they seemed to recognize the dragon. And indeed, their intuition was correct, for then the black dragon breathed a grey mist at the fire dragons that were chasing them. The remaining dragons noticed the two dragons that had been caught in the mist, and as those two fell the fire dragons retreated as quickly as they could, fearing the wrath of the mysterious black dragon that had come along. The cat laguz looked behind her, making sure the fire dragons were far, far away before pumping her fist in the air.

"I knew it!" she replied with a bright smile on her face. "Kuranga would pull through for us!"

Calvin's head jerked up as he and Cecilia both stood up, and then his eyes were very wide as he saw the black dragon in front of them transform into the familiar face of Kuranga the seer.

However, even the familiar face of Kuranga was distorted; now his head had been shaved of its black hair, and in its place a tattoo of a grey flame was seen riding along. It seemed to flicker around on Kuranga's head as his scarlet eyes gazed at the group.

"K… Kuranga…?" asked Calvin uncertainly as he stared at the now bald dragon laguz.

"Hm?" asked the dragon. "I don't believe I know who you are."

"Oh, it's a long story," replied Ike, shaking the dragon's hand fervently. "How've you been?"

"It has been very difficult," replied the dragon sternly as he looked to Maria. "I sense that you have come here from a time warp?"

"Yes," replied Maria with a nod. "And unfortunately, we dragged these two from an alternate timeline."

"And I saw you in that timeline," added Calvin with a polite nod. "So that's why I recognized you."

"Ah," replied the dragon concisely.

"Yeah…" added Cecilia with a rub of her head. "So, you know what's going on here?"

The dragon nodded sternly. "The blackheart known as Nergal came back from the dead," he began. "And he tried to take over Idoun's mind. I assume you know this, seeing as how I caught the briefest glimpse of you during the battle."

This mention surprised everybody greatly. "B-but how?" asked Maria. "You didn't even look in our direction the entire battle!"

"You would be surprised what my peripheral vision can catch," replied the dragon. "So I assume you saw Nergal leave, right?"

"I think so…" replied Ike, suddenly realizing who the man with the robes was. "That was Nergal?"

"Yes, come back from the dead to attempt to take over the world," replied Kuranga. "Again."

"So what happened after he fled?" asked Cecilia.

Kuranga gazed out into the distance, the fog having lifted to reveal a very charred landscape that was in front of them. "After that, Idoun created war dragons," replied the laguz solemnly. "Nergal wasn't specifically the worst problem; king Zephiel of Bern was the one who tried to bring back the dragons… After Idoun went out of even my physical power, the dragons radiated from Bern into Elibe, and then they ravaged everything in their path…"

"Oh, no!" shouted Fiordiligi.

"That's terrible!" added Calvin.

"Thankfully, there was a glimmer of hope," replied the dragon solemnly. "We were able to find a place to hide, and since then a small number of humans throughout Elibe have been fighting a resistance movement against the dragons…"

Calvin and Cecilia nodded to this, but Ike was confused. Thusly, he crossed his arms in front of him. "But if Nergal got away, that can't have been all there was, right?" he asked.

"He came back," replied Kuranga, his speech now slightly more impassioned. "And he brought an entire army of… fabricated people… Oh, they were disgusting!"

"So now, it's pretty much a free for all war," continued Maria, looking out into the thin fog from where they stood.

"Precisely," stated Kuranga, his head hanging solemnly. "And that is when you came in."

Everybody in the group nodded, and then Fiordiligi came forward, tripping over her own foot and forcing Ike to catch her.

"Fiordiligi?" asked Kuranga.

"I've lost my eyesight," replied the lady as Ike helped her up. "Do you know what happened to Willie?"

"Oh, Willie?" asked Kuranga, his eyes suddenly going very solemn. "Well… He was in a resistance unit to the West… But his unit was attacked by morphs… The casualties were high…"

Fiordiligi leaned forward, her eyes watering. "Oh, no," she said. "Don't tell me he's dead!"

Kuranga was silent, and instead of replying to Fiordiligi's question he looked down to the ground. "I guess there's no good way to say it," he said softly.

This was all that the lady needed, and she was then trying to stifle dry tears behind her eyelids that covered her unseeing jade eyes.

"Oh, no…" said Maria, shaking her head solemnly as Ike draped his arm around Fiordiligi's shoulders.

"It's not that big a deal," replied Cecilia. "I mean, we can always go back and fix the timeline…"

Fiordiligi sniffed, her tears not coming out as she looked around. "Yeah," replied the woman. "What's supposed to happen in the last timeline we produce?"

"Willie remains alive," replied Kuranga with a curt nod.

"Oh, okay," replied Fiordiligi, smiling softly as she heard this. "I just hope I'll be alive at that point."

"At any rate, we've wasted enough time here," stated the seer. "Come. I'll take you to the base of the human resistance here in Bern. And come quickly!"

Everybody followed the dragon, Maria leading Fiordiligi along quickly as the black dragon moved through the burned earth into a dark tunnel.

* * *

The tunnel seemed to extend forever, the darkness beginning to get to everybody even with the torch that Kuranga had picked up about a quarter of the way in. Cecilia was beginning to get very restless, and she started whistling to the great chagrin of everybody else in the tunnel. Ike was attempting to resist the urge to hit his companion as Maria simply grinned sheepishly, trying her hardest to just lead Fiordiligi down the tunnel. Calvin paid it no mind, instead preferring to look to the cavern wall. The whistling went on for quite some time before finally Maria groaned, more to get Cecilia to stop whistling.

"My Goddess, could this tunnel stretch any longer?" asked Maria suddenly, surprising everybody in the tunnel and causing Cecilia to stop whistling.

"I'm rather surprised, actually," said Fiordiligi. "I figured that the first person to snap would've been Cecilia."

"Hey!" shouted the Elibian.

Kuranga slowed down a little as Ike suddenly noticed a slight dip in the earth beneath them.

"That won't be necessary," replied Kuranga. "We're here."

And then Ike looked out to find a cave with a stone wall that seemed to house everything there. There were cots laid out where many, many wounded people lay. It was silent, meaning that most of the wounded were either sleeping or dead. Ike sincerely hoped that it was not the latter. The sight was only differentiated by the presence of two people there. The one was a rather lonely swordsman with long brown hair and a very tattered red cloak that had taken on a dark crimson color from the dust it had collected over many years of use. He was sitting by a cot attending to a young woman with orange hair that was tied into two very unorganized buns. The other was a tall woman with long blonde hair that despite years of dishevelling activity still seemed to have a beauty that rivaled that of Fiordiligi.

As soon as Kuranga entered the cave, the blonde woman came over to the dragon quickly, bowing before him quickly.

"Oh, milord Kuranga, you're all right!" she said with a great amount of relief in her voice.

"Please, you should know better than to call me 'milord', my queen," replied Kuranga with a respectful bow. "I had a run-in with dragons trying to save these people..."

Guinevere then noticed the five people behind Kuranga. When she looked at them, she quickly bowed as she looked at them.

"I'm Guinevere, the proper queen of the nation of Bern," she said gravely as she shook Ike's hand.

"And I'm Ike," replied the mercenary. "And these are my friends Maria, Fiordiligi, Cecilia, and Calvin."

"Nice to meet you, dear," replied Maria with a smile and a nod.

"My..." said Calvin, looking at all of the wounded. "Do you need any help with your wounded?"

Guinevere's expression lit up slightly, sapphire eyes glittering in the torchlight. "Oh, would you?" she asked.

"Of course," replied the priest, taking out his staff. "Come on, Cecilia. We've got a lot of work to do."

The purple-haired female nodded quickly, following her companion as Guinevere led them to the wounded that needed attention. Ike and Maria both turned to Kuranga, looking at him.

"So you're stuck in caves, why?" asked Maria simply.

"There is nowhere else we can go," replied the dragon laguz stoically. "All of the shelter on the surface has been destroyed and setting up tents has the danger of us being noticed by the others outside. As well, we are never safe from the morphs no matter what we do as they just warp past our defenses..."

Ike looked around the caves, indigo eyes holding a strange mix of wonder and shock. "Wow..." he said. "That's pretty terrible..."

"Terrible is an understatement," replied Kuranga as the cat laguz noticed the mysterious swordsman suddenly standing up and heading to the dragon. "We're the last true people left in this place..."

"Except for you, Kuranga," said the swordsman suddenly, startling Kuranga's three companions. "You are a dragon."

"Rutger, please, can you drop it already?" asked the dragon with a heavy sigh. "Need I remind you that I have always been on your side since this war began?"

"I never said that," replied the swordsman. "Just that the statement is not... correct..."

The Tellian mercenary shrugged indifferently to this and pointed at Kuranga. "And what's wrong with that?" asked the mercenary. "He's still on your side, and it's rather handy, don't you think?"

The swordsman was silent in reply. The silence irked the mercenary to no end, and when Maria finally let out a dissatisfied breath the mercenary spoke.

"Well, fine," he said, waving his hand dismissively. "I was just pointing out one simple fact."

The strange swordsman turned around and walked back, dusted crimson cloak flowing behind him quite readily. Kuranga shook his head at the retreating figure.

"Poor thing," said Kuranga softly. "Rutger has always been like that ever since the incident twelve years ago."

"Why?" asked Fiordiligi. "Did he lose a loved one?"

Kurnaga nodded. "She was an Etrurian noble," he said. "He had a crush on her. When she was killed by the dragons after that battle he simply could not take it anymore..."

"And then this..." continued Maria, her gaze on the swordmaster softening.

"Granted, he was always rather... silent..." added the dragon mirthlessly. "But still, this is a reason for concern... I think he might have taken her death the wrong way..."

"That's rather terrible..." sighed Fiordiligi softly.

To this, Kuranga simply chuckled mirthlessly, scarlet eyes blank as he did this. "It always has been ever since that incident," he replied. "Come, let us get some rest."

The mercenary and his two companions could not say no to that, so they simply followed the dragon deeper into the cave and onto the softest spot possibly attainable on the stone walls of the cave.

* * *

Some time later, Maria and Ike were both laying down on one of the cots that Guinevere had set up after their arrival. Maria's hands were on her belly as Ike held her by the waist, the woman on top of her lover as Ike simply felt her against him. The two of them were trying to sleep, what with how quickly night had set in upon them. The group was scattered amongst the cots, with Fiordiligi close by Kuranga and Cecilia and Calvin both close to each other in a remote spot of the room far away from Ike, but the mercenary didn't really mind. After all, it gave him some much-needed time to just be by Maria's side.

"You know..." he whispered quietly into Maria's ear as to not wake anybody up. "I... I should've asked you what you thought about parenting before all this..."

Maria was silent, contemplating Ike's question as she shifted slightly.

"To be honest?" asked the cat softly. "I was kind of afraid of this."

"Really?" asked Ike, raising an eyebrow as he asked. "Why?"

"Well, you know..." said Maria. "At first it was because we weren't married. And second of all it was because it was caused by Gaston's... well, you know... But I got over those two factors, because you've been incredible to me ever since my pregnancy. You've always been great to me."

Ike gave Maria a confused look. "Really?" he asked. "I think I've been horrible to you."

Maria was equally confused by this reply. "Is it because we've been journeying non-stop ever since I got pregnant?" she asked.

"Yeah," replied the Tellian, gaze casted on the ceiling. "I haven't even once stopped you, even when we were on Magvel. I think I should've left you on Magvel and come back for you later. That way, our child wouldn't have to deal with moving all the time..."

"But that would've been cruel, too, not being there for your child," replied Maria as she too looked at the ceiling. "Plus, I would've had to wait twelve and a half years for you to come back, and our child would probably be either alive or dead depending on which timeline was correct. Trust me Ike, it's better this way. Because I at least know that you and the baby are safe, and I know I won't have to lie to our child when he grows old enough..."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "I mean, we're adventuring parents, so wouldn't that be a problem?"

Maria shifted in Ike's embrace so that she was on her side. Her hand took to lightly stroking the strands of cobalt hair that she had come to love so much.

"To be honest, that was another one of my concerns," she said. "Raising kids while adventuring is probably a lot of work. And that was probably the biggest reason why I was so afraid." Here, Maria's hand unexpectedly took one of Ike's hands in its grip. "But then I realized that it couldn't be worse than what would've happened if we had settled down..."

"And that would've been...?" asked Ike as he leaned in closer to his lover.

"Well, that the world would be in danger," she said softly, her lips quivering slightly. "And I don't know what we would do if our child was caught in some... well, messed up world."

Ike craned his neck, and when he did his lips settled over Maria's forehead softly. The mercenary kissed the cat softly before moving one of his hands to Maria's lavender hair, playing with it.

"I dunno," replied Ike. "But the fact of the matter is, we'll find a way."

"I know we will when you're around," replied the cat laguz.

And then, there was the sound of a portal opening from the entrance of the cave. And before Maria could comprehend the sound, Ike sat up, looking into the entrance of the cave and seeing torch lights in the distance with a bunch of cloaked figures.

"Oh, dear," he said a little louder, standing up from the cot as Maria sat up. "Morphs!"

Ike called this last word out, but unfortunately it only woke up Cecilia and Kuranga. Then, the opponents burst in with a loud screaming sound that woke everybody up a little too late.

What proceeded could only be described as a massacre; Kuranga was able to get Fiordiligi out of the way in time, and Cecilia had jumped out of the way with Calvin in her arms, but most everybody else that was at the front was not so lucky. In a matter of seconds, everybody immediately around the entrance of the cave had been murdered ridiculously quickly. This was enough to rouse everybody else in the cavern, including Guinevere and Rutger. In a matter of seconds, the mysterious swordsman had begun cutting away at the morphs long enough for the other men to stand up and ready their weapons. By the time they were, however, the intruders were already around half-way across the cave. Ike grabbed Ragnell and rushed forward to join the fray, hoping to help. As he did this, however, the morphs were beginning to greatly overpower the human opponents, and within a matter of minutes Ike and Rutger were the only ones left fighting, with Guinevere standing against her back as Kuranga found himself weighed down by all of the morphs above him.

Before Ike could get overpowered by the morphs, however, he suddenly felt himself get pulled into the tunnel of colors that he knew was the time-warp. He looked around, and saw Calvin and Cecilia slowly get up from where they had played dead and Fiordiligi groping the air where Kuranga had been defending her. Ike suddenly realized nobody else had been pulled into the warp space with them, and he sighed in relief as they returned to the patch of grass where they had started their journey to the second timeline.


	5. Chapter 5: Past Phase 2

Whoah, I got _horribly_ carried away by other things! Many, many apologies!

Anyhoos, after making stuff happen during dream sequences, I think it's time we got back to this, yes? Away the latest chapter of Legend!

* * *

Chapter 5: Past Phase 2

The group found themselves back in the clearing that they had arrived in the first time they had gone to the past. Almost without hesitation, Cecilia looked ahead of them before turning back to them.

"Okay, so apparently if we let that Nergal escape, then we're dead," said Maria. "It also appears that if we let the non-Kuranga dragon live, that won't be such a great thing either. And we're the only people that can go back in time too. I mean, I don't see anybody else here, so that must mean we're the ones that the crystal will send back in time."

"So down with both of them is what you're saying?" asked Calvin.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," said Ike. "Now we know where we need to go and what to do, so let's move!"

The group then ran off in the direction that they knew the great mountain temple to be in, and they promptly headed in that direction as quickly as they could.

* * *

As soon as Ike and his friends had made it all the way into the pathways on the temple, they thought they saw Roy's group rushing into the grand room in which the grand fight had taken place.

"My, they're already there!" cried the mercenary as he pointed at them. "Quick!"

"I just hope there's no pointless exposition when we get there!" replied Cecilia "I'm just tired of everything being handed to me on a silver plate!"

Maria shook her head, rolling her eyes as she held on to Ike's arm. "Oh, shut up," she said, trying to go a little slower to make up for the fact that she had been getting deeper into pregnancy lately.

The group then continued walking along the narrow walkways, eventually arriving at the point where the fight had started the last time they were there. However, they had gotten there just when the dragon that Kuranga had fought the last time they were there was shifting into her dragon form. Ike paused at the stairs, Cecilia and Maria stopping as Calvin managed to catch up while leading Fiordiligi to the room. The five of them then caught sight of the huge beast, all of them entering the room slowly as they waited for the beast to make the first move.

The dragon had indeed made the first move, breathing a grey mist into everybody that was already in the room. Everybody that was already in the room jumped to the side to dodge. Thankfully, the mist did not go far enough that it would affect Ike.

Seeing his opportunity, the mercenary of Tellius jumped into the room, Ragnell raised high as he leapt into the air with a yell. He managed to cut down the dragon's front, and he looked up as the smoke cleared.

"Wet de hell?" asked the all-too familiar voice of Willie. "Ike? Wet?"

Fiordiligi, whom had just been led into the room by Calvin, suddenly darted her head to the side upon hearing Willie's all-too familiar voice. "Willie?" she asked. "Did you just say an 'h' syllable?"

As the smoke cleared, Ike was able to see Willie turn around and tackle Fiordiligi to the ground. "Viordiligi!" cried the Cockney boy in less of an accent than Ike and the crew remembered. "Yer okay!"

"We don't have time to think about that!" said Cecilia as she rushed for the dragon. "We've still got this thing to take down!"

As the smoke cleared, the army under general Roy blinked in surprise. However, Kuranga, who had shifted into his own dragon form by this time, seemed to pay no mind. Ike leapt back, nodding at the dragon laguz before jumping in to attack the dark dragon again.

Shrugging, Roy decided to play along with this, and so he rushed into the battle as well.

Ike and Roy were then seen both slashing at the dragon quickly. The small force that Roy had brought over, as well as the group that Ike had brought with him were soon fighting against the dragon as well. Some of the people had to split away when suddenly a pair of dragons had been summoned, but overall things were going quite well for the small force that was there. The two subsidiary groups that had broken up were quick with dealing with the two dragons, and so the onslaught against the dark dragon herself continued quite quickly.

The group fighting against the dark dragon only took a few minutes to fight it. They still had a rather difficult time trying to dodge the many claw swipes that the dragon was sending its way, however. Even with this, they were slowly chipping away at its health.

The war dragons were going down very quickly, as well. Willie seemed to have claimed a new set of spells, and this helped immensely against both of the war dragons. The two groups facing off against the war dragons soon had then taken down, and then they rejoined the fight against the dark dragon herself.

With this onslaught of manpower, the dark dragon was beginning to get greatly overwhelmed. This was such that when the lord known as Roy stepped forward, everybody knew it was time for the dragon's death to occur.

However, just as Roy was about to land the finishing blow, a scream suddenly rang out within the room. All of the action seemed to stop, and right when Roy plunged the legendary Sword of Seals into the dark dragon, all heads turned to the center of the room.

There, a woman with blue hair seemed to be crumbled over herself, with a lone figure hovering above her. The look on his face exuded evil, and it was at the long flowing black tunics that Ike scowled.

Roy had turned around very quickly as soon as he drew the blade from within the dark dragon. Seeing the woman down on the ground, however, he let out a scream of fright.

"Lilina!" cried the young lord loudly. "No!"

He then leapt towards the blue haired woman. Ike suddenly seemed to realize that this woman seemed to have some significance on Roy.

_Oh, dear... _he thought. _That can't be good..._

"Hey!" cried Willie at the robed man. "Wet de hell was dat for?"

"Shut up, you impudent brat!" shouted the man angrily, holding out a sphere of black magic at the boy. "I'll have you know that it does not really matter!"

"You...!" exclaimed Cecilia as all heads turned to the man in the center of the room. "You don't talk like that and expect to get away with it!"

"Besides, we're not going to let you take over the world!" shouted Ike, holding up Ragnell as he spoke.

The undead man smiled wickedly at the mercenary. "Ah, but see, you don't know everything that could change the future..." he said menacingly. "And may I remind you that you only have six more tries to get it right?"

Willie glanced confusedly to his friends from Greljedo. "Wet's he talkin' about?" he asked.

"It... it won't matter in a bit, Willie," replied Maria as she gulped nervously. "You'll see what I mean."

"And you only know the basics. Why don't I get you acquainted with the outside elements?" asked the man Ike knew was definitely Nergal with acid oozing from his voice.

"You'll do that over my dead body!" cried Ike.

And with this, he rushed forward, moving to slash at the evil man in front of him.

_you have no chance make your time_

_Crap..._ thought Ike as his slash missed.

However, Fiordiligi was quick to act. Seizing the opportunity to do so, the capturing circle appeared under Nergal. And just like the first time, the evil magician simply disappeared into thin air, only to teleport to the other end of the room.

This time, Willie was not ready to throw a fireball at the evil magician. However, Kuranga was directly over head. Before he could breathe on the magician, however, Nergal had teleported next to Roy, who was still in shock over the death of the lady.

"I'll collect my prize then," he said, waving his hand in front of the Lycian lord.

And as he teleported away, he laughed maniacally.

It was what Roy did next that scared everybody, however. He slowly stood up, and then he gazed at the assembled warriors, his eyes blank as he looked at them.

"Oh, shi--!"

And before Cecilia could comment further, the familiar blackness took over Ike's being.


	6. Chapter 6: The Second Timeline

Yeah, let's try to get back on track with this, shall we?

And here, we jump ahead in the timeline again. A word about this timeline, some really messed up shit goes down for reasons you'll see later... Just know that things are going to get really crazy with this timeline...

* * *

Chapter 6: Second Timeline

Ike woke up, almost in the same clearing as what he had woken up in previously.

Panicking, he sat up, eyes wide in fear. However, when he saw that the rest of his friends were laying scattered around him he let out a sigh of great relief.

Looking around, everything looked relatively normal.

"Ike?" asked Maria softly as she stirred.

"Oh, Maria!" said the mercenary. "I think we're okay now..."

Cecilia and Calvin were the first two to sit up as Maria stirred. "I don't think it'll stay like that for long, though..." said Cecilia uncertainly.

"What do you mean?" asked Fiordiligi as she sat up slowly, again groping the air.

"Something tells me that something awful is going to happen by the time we go back to the past again," said the priest's companion uncertainly. "I don't know what, though."

"And what makes you say that?" replied the lady of Jericho.

"Just a feeling," she said, Maria noticing the uncertain glance to her hand where the jewel Calvin had mentioned earlier was. "I don't know why."

Ike simply stood up, helping Fiordiligi up as everybody else stood as well. "Well, let's hope that it doesn't happen. Now let's go before we're left in the dark again."

Everybody nodded, and the group was on its merry way.

A few hours of walking later, they found themselves wondering through the forest that they often wondered through when they went back in time. However, they could not help but notice that something was markedly different about how it looked. Except for Fiordiligi, who could not see what was going on.

They were all able to pinpoint exactly why this was; unlike the liveliness in the past, there was something dead about the forest they were in, as if they had returned back to the underworld and were being chased by Andrew and his friends again. Ike looked around, feeling a strange sense of dread overcome him as he moved around in the rather thin forest. Maria held on to his hand in reassurance, always letting Ike know that he was not alone.

Calvin then heard some odd rustling in the bushes to the side, and he paused briefly, turning to look behind him. Cecilia and Ike all followed suit, and Maria and Fiordiligi both paused at exactly the same time.

"What was that?" asked Calvin.

"Hm..." said Ike. "We should probably follow it..."

"Wait, what do you mean, follow it?" asked Fiordiligi. "You might be walking right into a trap!"

"Still, we might find a friend," said Cecilia. "And we might get a few answers."

Maria shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to stick with Fiordiligi here," she said. "That might look like a trap..."

"Eh, you know what?" asked Cecilia. "Let's just forget we ever saw it and move on."

Ike shook his head at this notion, pointing to the bushes. "I don't know. For some reason, I feel it calling to me... almost like it wants me to follow it..."

Cecilia rose an eyebrow at this. "Wha...?" she asked uncertainly. "What makes you say that?"

"It's like..." he said. "Like it's calling to me."

"Oh, dear, is it a siren song?" asked Fiordiligi, a little annoyed at this. "I know you can resist it, Ike..."

"Hm..." said Calvin, thinking. "How about we do this? We'll have Ike and Fiordiligi follow the source of the sound, and if that turns out not to be a trap, then we'll have Ike come back and reclaim Maria, Cecilia, and I."

Fiordiligi rolled her eyes reproachfully, but her hands loosened their grip on her staff. "Well, all right," she said. "But if it's a trap, you two better come to our aid, and fast!"

"We will, don't worry!" exclaimed Maria as Ike took Fiordiligi's wrist and ventured into the forest after the sound that Calvin had heard.

This left Cecilia, Calvin, and Maria to look around the forest, the purple-haired woman looking around as she drew her sword from its scabbard.

"Just in case," she reassured Maria with a wink. "I don't want to be attacked by anybody without any way of defending myself first."

"Can't blame you for that one," replied the laguz as she looked at the forest around her. "This doesn't exactly look like the best place to be caught off guard..."

"It definitely isn't," replied Calvin.

Cecilia shook her head tentatively. "You guys haven't seen anything yet," she said. "Sacae can be pretty crazy like that."

Maria raised an eyebrow like this. "Really?" she asked, curiously. "Why do you say that?"

The purple-haired human shrugged. "A few reasons," she said. "When you pulled us into the time warp, the clans in Sacae were in the middle of a huge war for territory."

"Clans of Sacae?" asked the cat laguz.

"Sacae is a nation of nomads," replied Calvin helpfully.

"Oh," replied Maria, nodding. "But that can't have been all, could it?"

Cecilia shook her head. "Bandits," she said, simply. "Anywhere else, they'd be dealt with swiftly. But in Sacae, everybody was too busy fighting each other to care. So bandits did a lot of damage as well." Here, her gaze hardened. "But bandits couldn't do what they did at that village by themselves. I'm sure of that."

Before the cat laguz was able to say anything more, however, they suddenly heard the rustling of bushes behind them. Panicking, Maria leapt to the side, prepared to dodge whatever came after her as Cecilia and Calvin both raised their weapons up. The rustling stopped tentatively.

"Whoah, Cecilia, it's okay!" Ike's voice was a dead giveaway to the mercenary as he stepped out of the bushes. "It's me."

"Wha...?" asked the cat laguz, suddenly a little confused. "Didn't you go over that way?" She pointed in the direction Ike had originally ran off in.

"Oh, our army moved, that's all," said Ike softly. "It wasn't a trap. We found a good army to hang around with. Come along. Fiordiligi's waiting."

Ike then darted back into the woods, Maria and Cecilia both glancing at each other tentatively.

"Do you get the feeling that something fishy's going here?" asked the human woman.

"Oh, yeah," Maria said, shaking her head. "I dunno, though. I think we should follow him anyway. Just to see what happens."

Cecilia shrugged as Maria and Calvin both followed after the mercenary. "Whatever you say," she said. "I just hope this isn't like what I ran into with them..." she added under her breath as she began running after her priest companion.

* * *

The three of them had followed Ike for quite some time, the mercenary had suddenly paused in front of a series of tents. Looking back at Maria and Cecilia, the mercenary gestured in front of him.

"Well, here we are," he said, turning to the tents in front of him. "Guinevere! I'm back!"

Maria, Cecilia, and Calvin all looked behind Ike as they saw a woman coming out of the tent. They were surprised to find that it was the same blonde woman that they had seen in the first timeline, right down to the wrinkles and everything. When she looked at Ike, she smiled.

"Ah, Sir Ike," she said, nodding to Ike. "You are back to us once again!"

"And I brought the rest of my friends over, too," said the mercenary, stepping out of the way so that his companions were visible to the woman. "Guinevere, this is Maria, Cecilia, and Calvin."

The priest came forward first, glancing nervously at Cecilia and Maria. He felt awkward having to reintroduce himself to Guinevere, but he had the feeling he would have to live with reintroducing himself to almost everybody he met pretty soon. Thus, he breathed in. "An honor, milady Guinevere," he said, bowing respectfully to her.

"Same here," said Cecilia, she and Maria both bowing down in front of her.

"Oh, quit the formalities," replied the queen of Bern lightly. "We are equals here. Fiordiligi should be all right."

"I trust she's still hanging out with Willie, then?" asked Ike.

Maria's eyes darted to the former mercenary captain, a look of restrained surprise on her face. Before she could say much else, however, she noticed Fiordiligi out of the corner of her eye.

She was being led by Willie, a new, slightly more decorous eyepatch seen over his missing eye as he looked on with the bright emerald eye Maria had known so well. His brown hair had grown in the twelve years since she had last seen him, and it was tied back with a few strands of hair in front of his good eye. He sported simple battle attire as well, and he looked rather handsome in it as she noticed that he seemed to have grown a few inches. The boy from Alexandria's eyes lit up brightly upon seeing Maria.

"Maria, it's been too long!" he said. "'Ow've ya been?"

"Willie!" she exclaimed, surprised. "Your accent..."

"It's mostly gone by now," replied Willie in respose to this. "But I still can't get me aitches right, and I'm still doin' a few things wrong. But it's better than it used to be, I tell ya."

Maria smiled at this. "Wow, you've changed so much!" she said.

"And I find him more charming with that new voice of his, if I do say so myself," added Fiordiligi.

Cecilia coughed rudely, bringing attention to herself. The young man looked over to the female and the priest, and frowning slightly he turned. "Oh, dear!" he exclaimed. "I got so excited about seein' all of 'em again I forgot yeh were there! I'm Willie!" With this, he extended his hand in greeting.

"A pleasure, sir," replid the priest. "I'm Calvin, and this here is my friend Cecilia."

"Nice to meet you," replied the female as she too shook Willie's hand.

Guinevere nodded at this. "Well, the group is already here, it seems."

"Yep," said Ike, crossing his arms in front of him. "Now, about that explanation you promised us..."

"Ah, yes," said the queen of Bern. "Come. Clarine has all of the details."

With this, the royal retreated into the small camp. Ike followed, Willie and Fiordiligi walking along. Maria hesitated, looking back to Cecilia and Calvin. Shrugging, she followed along, walking deeper within the small camp as Cecilia and Calvin followed close behind.

* * *

The group entered a tent within the camp. There, stood a rather young female woman, blonde hair coming down to her shoulders over a ruined Etrurian battle garnment.

However, Maria shook nervously when she noticed a scar over her forehead. She found this disturbing as she entered the tent after Ike. She shuddered at this, wondering how the woman had acquired the scar.

The small group sat around the woman, he eyes looking at each of them. She nodded to Willie, briefly acknowledging his presence in the tent, but other than that she payed no mind to anybody else in the small tent. As soon as Guinevere entered, the Etrurian noblewoman nodded.

"So I see these are the ones who wondered onto camp..." said the seated lady steadily.

"Yes, Clarine," replied Guinevere.

The woman that was already in the tent nodded. "All right," she said. "You five have missed plenty, I take it?"

Cecilia nodded. "It would be nice if we knew what the hell was going on, yeah," she said.

"Very well," said the woman whom Maria guessed was Clarine. "As you know, several years ago we brought down the Dark Dragon."

"Yeah," replied Maria, scratching the back of her head. "So where does that take us?"

Clarine shook her head. "Roy was posessed by that demon that disappeared before we were ever able to fight him," she said. "And when he was posessed..."

The Etrurian noblewoman shook her head sorrowfully. "It was awful," she said. "He massacred most of the people in that room. Willie was the only one there to escape. And we were the only ones who were able to get away from his wrath in time..."

At this, Ike blinked uncertainly, Calvin bringing a hand to his mouth. "That is awful!" exclaimed the priest. "And what has happened since then?"

"Roy has been put in charge of an army of that demon's finest warriors," replied Clarine. "And he is now parading around Elibe, attempting to eradicate all of us..."

"And we've been on the run ever since," added Willie. "It ain't a good life, I tell ya."

Ike nodded solemnly as the others sans Fiordiligi glanced at each other. "And... and what have you been able to do about it?"

"For the longest time, we were just trying to pin Roy down to a specific location," replied the Etrurian noblewoman. "But now, we have him in our sights..."

"And what's going to happen then?" asked Maria.

Clarine looked at them. "We're going to go on a mission behind enemy lines..." she said. "We have Roy where we want him... So if we can kill him, then we could deal a major blow."

Cecilia raised an eyebrow at this before shifting. "Well, hold on a second," she said. "How are you sure that that'll work?"

The Etrurian noblewoman blinked at her. "Well, without a commander, then they cannot act, right?" she asked.

"Thats the whole problem," replied Cecilia. "Roy is under mind control too. Killing him wouldn't make a difference. That demon man is the one in ultimate control of Roy's soldiers, so he could order them back into unity again."

"And how would you know that?" asked Clarine bitingly.

Cecilia glared, but chose to keep her mouth shut. Before the noblewoman could speak, however, Fiordiligi spoke. "She's right," she said. "Let me propose something to you; what if these warriors were... fabricated people?"

"Fabricated people?" asked Clarine, scoffing. "I have never heard such a thing!"

"No, just, listen to me," continued the woman from Jericho. "If these warriors were fabricated, then they would be able to go under his command."

"And plus, there's the fact that he was able to keep a psychic hold on Roy for _twelve years_," blurted out Ike. "If he has that power, then what says that he cannot make people."

"Enough of the insanity!" replied Clarine, finally losing her temper. "Too many people have died because he has been leading them! So unless you have any better ideas then I suggest you shut up."

"Oh, no better ideas except, oh, I don't know, _killing the demon himself_?" asked Cecilia with a clear amount of anger rising in her voice.

"Enough!" Guinevere's voice rang out in the tent, bringing the argument to an abrupt halt. "We should not get into a fight here. I beseech you, just trust her with this for now..."

The purple-haired human girl glared at Guinevere before sighing, Calvin leaving a hand on her shoulder as Maria and Ike both shifted where they sat.

"All right, fine," said Ike. "We'll listen to you. What do you want us to do?"

Clarine cleared her throat. "I want you to go with Willie," she said. "All of you, except for Calvin and Maria."

"No, I'm going with him," replied Maria. "I don't want to be left out of the know if things go horribly wrong."

"Okay then, just Calvin," said Clarine, shaking her head. "Willie will lead you to where we believe Roy to be located."

At this, the woman produced a map and spread it out in front of them. She pointed at a picture of a castle.

"We believe he is in Castle Bern, right here," she said. "We want you to find him within that castle, kill him, and return to us."

"Okay," said Ike. "I think we got it."

"Good," said Clarine, looking to the group. "Some of the members of the army shall join you as well. May God be with you."

And with this, the meeting ended.

* * *

As night fell onto the camp, Ike was already up. Maria joined his side precariously, noticing as Willie and Fiordiligi conversed inside a tent. Her amethyst eyes were set in worry as she looked to Ike as he stared ahead of him.

"You know, things have been incredibly rocky lately," said Maria with a shrug. "What with running into these people and all..."

Ike nodded. "I still think Clarine has the wrong idea," he said. "But I'm not about to yell at her about it now of all times. When the morphs come flying at her, then that'll be the end of that..."

Maria's face scrunched. "Why do you say that?" she asked.

"I don't know," replied Ike. "I guess it's what Hades told us in the underworld..."

The depowered laguz blinked nervously, suddenly realizing something. "Wait..." she said. "Technically, it's been around twelve years since we saw him, right?"

"Yeah," said Ike with a shrug. "Why?"

"It's the baby..." she replied. "It feels like it'll be ready to be born soon..."

Ike nodded, thinking. "... Well... I'm not sure what to say," he said. "It's great..."

"I know," replied the laguz. "It's not the best time."

The mercenary nodded. "Well, that too..." he said. "But when you think about it, we couldn't have predicted that your pregnancy would go so far, could we? So really, there's nothing we could've done to curb that. So all that's left is to see my baby..."

Maria nodded. "I think it's going to be beautiful..." she speculated with a small grin.

"So do I," replied Ike, smiling. "I defintely plan on living to see it..."

The cat laguz blinked momentarily, the moment broken by this. However, she shrugged it off, figuring it was nothing and leaving it at that.

* * *

Late into the night, Willie had led the group through the woods, slowly. He himself led Fiordiligi on by holding on to her hand. She had blushed upon getting the feeling of Willie holding her, but she had paid it no mind as the young man from Alexandria slowly moved through the trees. Ike, Maria, and Cecilia followed behind them, the three of them knowing that if they had to return back to twelve years earlier Calvin would be taken anyway.

The group slowly advanced through the woods, Willie keeping his only eye on alert in case he saw something. The trip was relatively uneventful, however, and so they finally stumbled across their destination.

Ike saw the castle of Bern in all of its glory, the ramparts rising up above him ominously in the night. A lone room was lit in one of the towers, and Ike saw the light of the flame bouncing off of the grey stones as he looked on. He saw a burned flag rising from a flagpole just under the window, and the window was small enough that Roy needed to be standing in front of it to look anywhere outside.

"Well, 'ere we are," said Willie. "Bern Keep. Where Roy's waiting..."

Maria nodded, looking to the light. "I guess that light is our destination, yes?

The branded one nodded. "Yep, that's it," he said. "I think me 'eart's beatin' wildly right now..."

"We can do it," reassured Ike. "We can do this."

"Well, okay," said Willie. "I hope you're right..."

"Let's go," said Cecilia, drawing out a rapier she had lent from Guinevere. "This guy isn't gonna sit still for us to kill him."

The rest of the group nodded. "Fiordiligi, don't let go of me 'and."

"All right," replied the woman.

With this, the group moved closer to the castle, keeping to the shadows until they had entered the palace through a side window.

Ike saw a rather small array of boxes around him, no doubt gathering dust from lack of use. He had no time to think of this, however, for he and the rest of the group quickly moved into the hallway, moving by rather quickly as they stumbled over themselves. They briefly ran through what must have been a throne room, having fallen into mis-use no doubt due to years of neglect. Maria thought she could briefly feel someone glancing on her tail, but she payed it no mind as she was quickly brought along by Ike.

The group moved quickly through the halls, traversing flights of stairs and working their way up the palace's structure. The five of them worked their way through the passages, looking every so often to make sure nobody was in their way.

And so, when they finally arrived to the only room that was lit in the entire palace, the group entered, Ike with Ragnell at the ready and Cecilia with her rapier drawn as they looked at the figure with his back turned to them. Willie readied himself, Fiordiligi and Maria staying in the doorway. The cat laguz drew out the time crystal, ready to strike it against something in case something awful happened.

The one Ike assumed was Roy of Pherea said nothing when he entered the room. Thus, an incredibly tense silence took a hold of the small room in the castle, the tension in the air strong. Maria shied away a little, and since she brushed gently against Fiordiligi the blind woman latched on.

"So I see you have come for my life."

The tone in the lord's voice was mocking as he stood stock-still. Disturbing as well was the monotone quality of the voice.

"You got that right, Governor," replied Willie, trying his best to sound brave despite the obvious intimidation by Roy. "And we're not leaving until we get what we seek."

"Oh," said Roy, tauntingly. "You do realize that killing me will not solve anything, yes?"

Ike growled at him, beginning to become annoyed at Roy's stalling his fate. "I knew that long before now," replied Ike. "I know you're in there somewhere, Roy. I know you're still that same lord trapped inside!"

"Lord Roy is dead," replied the man who had just begun to turn to them. "Now there is only Nergal. And he shall rule no matter how many times you return to the future."

At this, Willie raised an eyebrow before looking back to Ike.

"Well, you'll just have to prove us wrong, then," replied Cecilia. "Because we'll keep on fighting no matter what you say!"

The lord of Pherae nodded. "I see how it is then," he said emotionlessly, drawing his sword slowly. "Come at me then!"

Cecilia was the first to move, jumping at Roy with her rapier brandished. She slashed at the Lycian lord, a blow that Roy expertly blocked. A few more blows were traded, and then Ike joined the fray. The three of them exchanged blows, the woman and the mercenary attempting to hit the possessed lord wherever they could. Willie was charging a fire spell when Roy knocked away Cecilia with a kick. Seeing this as an opportunity, the mage chucked the fireball forward. The Lycian lord simply deflected the ball of fire with his blade, the flame flying high into the air and extinguishing itself.

The lord was still able to bring the blade around to block a blow from Ike in the meantime.

As Cecilia rushed back to Ike, however, the lord kicked her away, continuing to trade blows with the mercenary captain. Ike was doing his best to block each and every blow that was sent his way.

In this fashion, Roy fought. Ike noticed as he traded blows with the Pherean lord that he fought almost inhumanly. As the fight went on, Ike had begun to tire, but Roy showed no such signs. It did not help that he deflected all of Willie's fireballs and kept Cecilia from ever getting close to him.

As the fight wore on, Ike was beginning to feel fatigued, and Cecilia's stomach was beginning to hurt where the lord was kicking her away. She tried to produce an ice spell, but this did not slow the Pherean lord in even the slightest way.

Finally, though, Ike had blundered badly. Roy had dodged to the side of one of Ike's slashes, Ragnell hitting the floor. Seeing his chance, the lord of Pherea thrusted his sword.

The blade passed through Ike's stomach, the fear eminent in their eyes when they saw the crimson blood.

Maria, who stood by the doorway the entire time, grabbed the crystal in her hands, and smashed it against the frame of the door. They were all sucked into the colorful tunnel except for Willie, and Maria kept her eyes shut.

When Maria opened her eyes, she was back in the past, with Ike, Cecilia, Fiordiligi, and Calvin all standing around her.

For some reason, the wound that should have been in Ike's belly was not there.


	7. Chapter 7: Past Phase 3

Okay, so last time we had Ike nearly gets himself killed by Roy. But, he's not dead. So, what happened?

We'll see. For now, we get hints...

* * *

Chapter 7: Past Phase 3

"Ike, you're okay!" cried Maria. She had to fight the urge to jump into Ike's arms at this, but the relieved flash in her eyes was great for Ike to see.

"Of course I am," he said, nodding. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Damn it, don't ever do that to us again!" cried Cecilia, glancing away from the hand that did not hold Guinevere's rapier anymore. "You could've been killed!"

The mercenary's sapphire eyes blinked in confusion. "But we were just sitting around!"

At this, everybody there blinked uncertainly, except for Fiordiligi. "What do you mean?" asked Calvin. "I followed you all the way from--"

"Wait, Calvin, you followed us?" asked the purple-haired human, blinking at the priest.

The priest nodded. "I could not simply leave you to be on an assassination!" he replied. "So I followed you..."

"Huh?" asked Ike. "Assassination?"

Maria raised an eyebrow at this. "You don't remember?" she asked uncertainly.

Fiordiligi shook her head. "We haven't the time for this!" she exclaimed, stamping her feet on the ground for emphasis. "We must head back to that grand battle, now!"

The group looked at each other before the mercenary shrugged, unsure of what to do.

"We'll handle this later," said Ike. "For now, let's move!"

And without another word, the five of them departed into the woods, running to get to the grand battle as quickly as possible.

* * *

As they moved throughout the forest, something suddenly occurred to Cecilia, and as she ran, she turned to Fiordiligi.

"Oh, you never did explain what the whole deal with being able to see spirit signs was..." she said. "What's a spirit sign?"

Fiordiligi held on to Ike's hand as he led both Maria and herself along. "A spirit sign?" she asked. "That's what the virtuous dead see for people..."

"It's how they can tell who's supposed to be in hell and who isn't," added Maria. "So it's sort of like... well, I don't know..."

"It looks like an aura," replied Fiordiligi. "Like... imagine I can actually see you. Now, imagine you're on fire with a blue flame. That is what you look like to me..."

At this, Cecilia blinked, her face setting into a frown. "Wait a minute, you _can_ see after all, can't you?" she asked.

"I can see _people_," replied Fiordiligi. "I can't see objects or the ground. So I still need someone to lead me since I can still run into things..."

"But still, that doesn't mean you can't--!" began the Elibean native loudly.

"I also have no depth perception!" replied the lady of Jericho angrily. "You try making out where people are going on a black plane where there is no floor and everyone looks like they are floating in the air! Then you come back to me about following people!"

"Ladies, can we please not argue at a time like this?" asked Calvin as he moved as quickly as he could behind Cecilia.

The two of them were silent for a brief period after this. However, Cecilia still had yet another question that was in her mind.

"Then can you tell me that you can at least tell which one Nergal is?" she asked.

Fiordiligi nodded. "Certainly," she said. "The aura behind Nergal is a stark black... And I have a feeling it has to do with being dead and belonging to hell more than it is that he is a blackhearted fiend..."

"Whatever the case, we know we have to kill him too," said Cecilia.

"The problem is, he's already dead," replied Ike. "So we have to send him back down to the underworld with the spirit trap."

At this, the female nodded. "Sounds like a plan," she said. "It's too bad we have to kill a dragon too!"

"Well, hang on," said Maria, a thought coming to her head. "If we don't kill either, then... what happens if certain people die?"

At this, the group had to fight off the urge to pause, realizing that the laguz had a point. The other four gave each other confused looks.

"That is a very good point," said Calvin. "Roy probably would not have succumbed to Nergal's mind-control so easily if that blue-haired girl hadn't died..."

Here, the group stopped, trying to catch their breath from nothing but running and then stopping to think. Ike nodded.

"That's true," he said. "So if we kill the dragon and don't kill Nergal... but we keep Lilina alive..."

Maria shook her head. "This just got a whole lot harder," she said. "Now we have to keep everyone alive..."

Fiordiligi nodded at this, letting go of Ike's hand after a brief period of time. "That's assuming everybody survives in the one timeline where everything turns out okay..."

The group mulled on these thoughts for a few minutes, catching their breaths as they pondered what to do about trying to keep the people in the battle against Nergal and the dragon alive.

* * *

A few hours later, they had managed to get all the way through the Dragon's Gate. Ike and the group suddenly found themselves within the chamber, seeing Roy and his army fighting the same opponent they had encountered in the last timeline.

"Okay, I think we made it in time," said Cecilia, holding her hand out and charging an ice spell. "Now let's take this thing down and see what happens next!"

Ike nodded as a giant plume of black smoke suddenly flew all over the room. Ike took this as his cue to enter, jumping high above the black flames that he had seen. As he moved to slash with Ragnell, he felt a small chill at his hands. He only brought his sword out in front of him and found that Cecilia had enchanted his weapon with ice. Grinning, he slashed at Idoun, the ice creating extra damage and clearing some of the smoke away.

"Wet de hell?" asked the all-too familiar voice of Willie. "Ike? Wet?"

"Yes, it's us!" cried Maria as she entered the room quickly. "Willie, you're all right!"

The Cockney boy seemed to smile at this. "Yeh be all roight!" he cried.

"We don't have time to think about that!" said Cecilia as she rushed for the dragon. "We've still got this thing to take down!"

As the smoke cleared, the army under general Roy blinked in surprise. However, Kuranga, who had shifted into his own dragon form by this time, seemed to pay no mind. Ike leapt back, nodding at the dragon laguz before jumping in to attack the dark dragon again.

Shrugging, Roy decided to play along with this, and so he rushed into the battle as well.

Ike and Roy were then seen both slashing at the dragon quickly, but this time Cecilia was enforcing both of their blades with the power of ice. This seemed to affect the dark dragon in a way nobody had anticipated, and so everybody concentrated their firepower onto the dragon itself. Arrows were being lodged in its hide, spells were flying into it left and right, and weapons were doing great damage. Ike was simply flying around the creature, as was every other person in Roy's army at the time. With this onslaught of manpower, the dark dragon was beginning to get greatly overwhelmed. Soon enough, the dragon was brought to its knees, its eyes betraying that it was frightened of death or some variant of it. It made it a little harder to watch when the lord known as Roy stepped forward, everybody knew it was time for the dragon's death to occur.

However, Cecilia knew that just as Roy would jump at the creature, Nergal would attempt to kill the blue-haired woman that had caused the Lycian lord to break off into rage during the second timeline.

Thus, she turned her head to where the lady stood, and tackled her to the ground. It was then that Cecilia brought her hand up, and upon doing so she froze Nergal's hand. A dagger was then frozen in place, which was then dissolved by a strange kind of black magic.

The distraction was all that she needed. "Look out!" cried Cecilia from where she lay on the ground right as Roy had plunged the legendary blade into the dragon's body.

And before the blackhearted fiend could do anything to anybody, they all turned around, seeing the man in long black robes. At Cecilia's intervention, he only grinned wickedly.

"So I see you kept me from claiming my prize..." began the dark magician.

"Your prize?" cried Roy, drawing his sword out from the dragon by his side. "What, you wanted Lilina's life?"

"Far from that," replied Nergal. "The dragon or your mind was what I wanted. It seems I've been denied both, however."

"Ha!" cried Ike, raising Ragnell high in the air.

"But..." he pondered, his eyes glancing over the group. "I would not mind... a replacement..."

Nergal then lunged towards Roy. Before much could be done, however, Ike blocked the man with Ragnell.

"I don't think so!" cried the mercenary. "You'll have to get through all of us before you can get to him!"

And before the blackheart could reply, Ike brought his blade around, knocking the knife out of Nergal's hands. The madman simply grinned evilly.

_you have no chance make your time_

"You think I truly needed that knife to kill a man?" he asked, almost deliriously. "Watch this!"

And then, he flung a ball of dark matter in Roy's direction. The lord was prepared, however, and so he swatted the ball of black energy away with a swing of his sword, the ball colliding with the wall in an eerily dark explosion.

Willie sent the fireball in Nergal's direction quickly. This caused him to warp to another part of the room, hoping to evade damage. Thankfully, Cecilia had waited for him to blunder, and so she sent an ice spell in the blackheart's direction.

Unfortunately, all of this had thrown of Fiordiligi's aim as she had attempted to create a spirit trap for Nergal. Thus, when she closed the trap a little to early, a female scream rang out in the air.

The victim was a blonde woman that Maria recognized as Guinevere a little too late.

Looking at this, everybody balked, wondering where the royal of Bern had disappeared to.

And before Ike blacked out, he saw the maniacal grin of Nergal hovering in the air as he teleported away, figuring that Guinevere's accidental sending to the underworld would suffice.


End file.
